1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to verification of a text messaging system.
2. Description of the Related Art
Text messaging campaigns have become routine to market/advertise a product, service, political position, political candidate and the like. Organizations (whether companies, non-profits, political parties, unions, broadcasters, schools and the like) spend enormous resources trying to get their message to their intended audience. Many times these text messaging campaigns are time sensitive. For example, if a political organization wants an intended audience to watch to a broadcast of a candidate, the text messaging campaign would be worthless if the text message informing the intended audience of the broadcast wasn't received by the intended audience until after the broadcast ended.
General definitions for terms utilized in the pertinent art are set forth below.
Interactive voice response (“IVR”) is a telephone technology in which a user uses a phone to interact with a database to acquire information.
Short Message Service (“SMS”) is text messaging communication using a mobile phone or other device.
Mobile Originated (“MO”) is a text message that is sent from a mobile phone.
Mobile Terminated (“MT”) is a text message that is sent to a mobile phone.
APP is a software application for a mobile phone such as a smart phone.
Hypertext Transfer Protocol (“HTTP”) is a set of conventions for controlling the transfer of information via the Internet from a web server computer to a client computer, and also from a client computer to a web server.
Internet is the worldwide, decentralized totality of server computers and data-transmission paths which can supply information to a connected and browser-equipped client computer, and can receive and forward information entered from the client computer.
FTP or File Transfer Protocol is a protocol for moving files over the Internet from one computer to another.
Transfer Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (“TCP/IP”) is a protocol for moving files over the Internet.
Application Programming Interface (API) is a collection of computer software code, usually a set of class definitions, that can perform a set of related complex tasks, but has a limited set of controls that may be manipulated by other software-code entities. The set of controls is deliberately limited for the sake of clarity and ease of use, so that programmers do not have to work with the detail contained within the given API itself.
Direct Inward Dialing (“DID”) involves a carrier providing one or more trunk lines to a customer for connection to the customer's private branch exchange (“PBX”) and a range of telephone lines are allocated to this line.
Voice over Internet Protocol (“VoIP”) relates to communications transmitted over the Internet such as SKYPE.
URL or Uniform Resource Locator is a address on the World Wide Web.
User Interface or UI is the junction between a user and a computer program. An interface is a set of commands or menus through which a user communicates with a program. A command driven interface is one in which the user enter commands. A menu-driven interface is one in which the user selects command choices from various menus displayed on the screen.
Web-Browser is a complex software program, resident in a client computer, that is capable of loading and displaying text and images and exhibiting behaviors as encoded in HTML (HyperText Markup Language) from the Internet, and also from the client computer's memory. Major browsers include MICROSOFT INTERNET EXPLORER, NETSCAPE, APPLE SAFARI, MOZILLA FIREFOX, and OPERA.
Web-Server is a computer able to simultaneously manage many Internet information-exchange processes at the same time. Normally, server computers are more powerful than client computers, and are administratively and/or geographically centralized. An interactive-form information-collection process generally is controlled from a server computer, to which the sponsor of the process has access.
The prior art has failed to provide a universal method and system for verification of text messaging delays.